Director, ESRC, Brock University (on leave)
Adjunct Professor, Sustainability Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast
Adjunct Faculty, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo
E-mail: rplummer@brocku.ca
Office: Theal House
Phone: +1-905-688-5550 x.4782
Please find my Google Scholar profile here
Education:
PhD, University of Guelph (Rural Studies)
MA, University of New Brunswick (Sport and Recreation Administration)
BOR (Hons), Lakehead University (Outdoor Recreation)
BA, Lakehead University (History)
About Ryan:
Ryan’s multi-faceted program of research broadly concerns the governance of social-ecological systems. In striving to advance knowledge of collaboration and adaptation within complex systems, he has focused on the exploring their theoretical underpinnings and ethical implications, modeling their processes, examining the roles of social capital, and investigating the influences of social learning. Water resources are the context in which his research mainly occurs.
Findings from his research have been published in leading international journals such as Ecological Economics, Ecology and Society, Environmental Management, Frontiers in Ecology and Society, Global Environmental Change, Journal of Environmental Management, Society and Natural Resources and the UN journal, Natural Resources Forum. In addition, he is the author of Outdoor Recreation (Routledge, 2010), and co-editor of Adaptive Capacity and the Making of Environmental Governance (with D. Armitage, Springer, 2010) and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems: the Role of Learning and Education (with M.E. Krasny and C. Lundholm, Routledge, 2011). He serves as a Subject Editor for Ecology and Society.
The scholarly quality of his research program was formally recognized in 2008 with the awarding of a Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence. In 2004 he received the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2008 he was selected as one of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Excellence in Education Award winners for Promotion of Sustainable Practices.
Research Interests:
- novel governance strategies and social – ecological systems
- adaptive co-management
- adaptation and adaptive capacity
- community-based natural resource management
- integrated resource management
- social capital and social learning
- resilience and vulnerability
How does your research relate to sustainability/ESRC?
Uncertainty, complexity and conflict characterize contemporary environmental challenges. Social-ecological systems emphasize an integrative perspective as human and biophysical systems are connected or linked. How society steers towards sustainable trajectories is a critical question. The sustainability science orientation of ESRC provides an ideal lens to study social-ecological systems and innovative forms of environment governance.
